16,000 residents without power

Published 8:00 pm, Monday, July 5, 2010

By TOM EVANS

Times Staff Writer

STAMFORD -- With the mercury nearly bubbling out of thermometers, the city worked its way through a blistering heat wave this week, including weathering widespread power outages on a record-setting Tuesday.

The outage affected about 16,700 Connecticut Light & Power customers in Stamford at about 4 p.m. on Tuesday, and lasted nearly four hours, according to Mitch Gross, spokesman for CL&P.

The Stamford Museum & Nature Center recorded a record-high temperature of 103 degrees on Tuesday, melting the old record of 102 degrees set on June 26, 1952, which was matched on July 15, 1995, according to Ali Farsun, head of media relations and marketing for the SM&NC.

Those 16,700 homes and businesses that lost power represents about 30 percent of the city's CL&P customers, Gross said at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Gross said "equipment that was not properly adjusted" at CL&P's Glenbrook substation was the culprit on Tuesday as the system tried to handle the increased demand for air conditioners and fans in the record heat.

About 770 customers in Darien, roughly 10 percent of the town's CL&P customers, were also without power for that four-hour span, Gross said.

"That equipment has since been re-adjusted," Gross said right before press time Wednesday. "Now in Stamford we show 12 customers without power. There's some work still going on around the state. (Wednesday) is another high-demand day that will again test our equipment."

Pat Standaert, head of nature programming at SM&NC, said the facility at 39 Scofieldtown Road is an Official Observation Station for the National Weather Service.

"The heat goes on and on, and you don't think it's ever going to break," Standaert said. "These aren't the kind of records we want to break. We are the official weather observers for Stamford, and we have been for over 60 years."

According to Standaert, the former record for July 6 was 100 degrees, recorded in 1999. And because the daily temperature measurement cycle goes from 5 p.m. to 5 p.m., Standaert said the record for July 7 (97 degrees in 1999) had already been broken with a 102-degree reading on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Standaert noted that July 5's record of 101 degrees in 1999 was not broken, and that expected relief from the oppressive heat would probably prevent the July 8 mark of 96 degrees (set in 1981, matched in '93) from being snapped.

She added that the animals at the SM&NC probably handled the withering heat and humidity better than humans.

"I think animals know more than we do," Standaert said. "They curl up under a bush, in the shade. I hope we don't break any more records."

Less than four months after the vicious wind storm wreaked havoc with the power to many residents for up to a week, Mayor Michael Pavia was happier about the utility's response on Tuesday.

"I feel the power was restored by CL&P in quite a timely fashion," Pavia said. "There was no power for rush hour, which was a big inconvenience, but everyone got through it. There were an estimated 16,000 homes without power at one time, and we made provisions for cooling centers, but I'm not sure how much they were used."

Those centers were in the Government Center at 888 Washington Blvd., Faith Tabernacle Church at 29 Grove St., Senior Services of Stamford at 945 Summer St., and at all city run fire houses.

WFSB-TV reports that officials gave no word as to when the power would be restored.